A devastating crash left a Welsh couple with life-changing injuries - yet the prospect of their daughter's wedding kept them going

Father who suffered life changing injuries in car crash was determined to get out of his wheelchair for his daughter's wedding

Alan and Sian Williams with their daughter Charlene and her new husband Allan after the wedding at St Augustine’s Church in Pontllanfraith, Blackwood

This moment, with their stunning daughter Charlene on her wedding day, was what kept Alan and Sian Williams going in their darkest days after suffering devastating injuries in a car crash.

When a speeding driver tearing along at 70mph in a 30mph zone smashed into their car as they drove home from visiting their grandson, the couple were left in intensive care with life-changing injuries.

More than a year on Alan, a former bodybuilder and boxer, is unable to walk without crutches and uses a wheelchair for longer distances.

Neither he nor his wife are yet well enough to return to their full time jobs.

James Davies

Proud dad Alan Williams with his daughter Charlene on her wedding day

But former miner Alan, 58, was determined to get fit enough to walk daughter Charlene,32, down the aisle when she married long-term partner Allan Scourse, 34, at St Augustine’s Church, Pontllanfraith, yesterday.

“He has no balance and can’t walk unaided,” said Sian.

“But he’s worked to walk our daughter down the aisle. It’s what’s kept him going, the wedding, our three children and five grand children.”

The catastrophic head-on collision left construction worker Mr Williams with multiple fractures, damage to the vision in his right eye and part of his left calf muscle had to be removed.

He spent 12 days in Morriston Hospital, Swansea where he had two operations and skin grafts and has been in and out of hospitals for treatment ever since.

Mrs Williams, was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, with a broken right arm, punctured lung, several broken ribs, and a ruptured breast.

She had a blood transfusion of six pints of blood, has been left with permanent scars and fears she’ll never use her right arm properly again. Both are in constant pain.

Mr Williams, a former Oakdale Colliery miner and keep fit fanatic, worked at Rapid Grid in Hirwaun while Mrs Williams worked in sales at Frontier Medical, Pontlanfraith.

Both fear they may now become a burden on their children Charlene, Wayne, 33, and Stuart, 30, and their five grand children aged three to 11.

“My husband took the worst of it,” said Mrs Williams, 51.

“He can’t kneel or bend. He was a boxer. They have kept our jobs open but it is going to be hard for him.

“Our whole lives have changed and it’s changed the lives of our children.

“We used to help look after the grand children and took them out and for walks. We can’t do that now.

“My husband’s leg swells if he walks long distances and we were back in hospital Christmas Eve and last Bank Holiday because his foot had gone black. His leg was so swollen it had stopped the circulation.

“He had two operations on his leg and had pins and plates and plastic surgery to re-build his knee. He needed skin grafts from his own skin and a donor to cover the hole. He wouldn’t let anyone see his leg for seven months, not even me. He was devastated.

“To have been so active and suddenly to have everything stop is hard.”

Mrs Williams, who used to enjoy swimming, remembers little about the accident but said her husband remembers it all and suffers flashbacks and insomnia.

“I just remember seeing the car coming towards us on the wrong side of the road.

“The rest is blank until I woke and saw the windscreen had little crystals all over it.

“It was really quiet and surreal then I heard my husband screaming “Sian, Sian, are you OK?.

“He remembers the impact and the air bag on his side opening. He has terrible flashbacks.

“We have seen so many people and had so many hospital appointments. We must have had 70 appointments in the last year. The effect is not just physical, it’s psychological too.

“My husband was rock solid. Now he’s in constant pain. That’s his life.”

But she said they were determined not to let their injuries get them down, especially with Charlene’s wedding.

“You have to keep a stiff upper lip. I have pain in my chest but you have to get on with it. Life’s too short. I hope to return to work part time and I loved swimming. I will go back to it.”

After waiting months for the case to come to court she took the brave decision to read a heart rending impact statement to the hearing, wanting the driver of the other car to know the effect of what he’d done.

The driver, Nathan Jenkins, 27, of Bronwydd, Oakdale, was jailed for six years for causing the crash when he appeared at Newport Crown Court last week.

The court heard he did not have a full driving licence, was unsupervised, uninsured, and was driving his ex-girlfriend’s car at over 70 miles per hour in a 30mph zone at the time of the crash at around 8pm on May 14 last year.

The Williamses were driving home in their Rover on the B4251 from Pengam to Oakdale when the crash happened and the head on collision was so extreme their car was crushed 6.3m backwards from the impact. It took fire crews an hour to release them from the wreckage, the court heard.

Jenkins had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Six weeks before the crash he had illegally driven his ex-girlfriend’s car, crashed it, and run from the scene, the court heard.

In police interview Jenkins said he was uninsured and unlicensed, but didn’t think he was driving fast.

In her victim impact statement to the court, Mrs Williams said she and her husband had gone from being two healthy people, working full time, to a couple who struggle with every day tasks and suffer restricted movement.

Jenkins’ barrister Andrew Taylor said his client was remorseful and never wanted to drive again, that he pleaded guilty in December, the car was not stolen and his client was not on drugs a the time of the incident.

He was sentenced to six years in prison and disqualified from driving for 10 years. Before he can drive again he will have to take an extended driving test and his licence will be endorsed with points for driving uninsured.

For the injured couple this is scant comfort, but Mrs Williams said they were pleased with the sentence and can now have some, small closure.

“We lived it, we’re still living it and will live it all our lives. My husband will never be the same.

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